Slaughter of Tenth Avenue
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979)

Though Slaughter on Tenth Avenue's (1957) background music relies heavily on the Richard Rodgers composition of the same name, the film itself bears no relation to the ten-minute ballet for which Rodgers wrote the piece. Instead, this crime meller attempts to expose waterfront union racketeering. In trying to solves a murder on the docks, deputy DA runs up against the stevedores' code of silence. It also dawns on Egan that his own boss shows little interest in pursuing justice in this instance. The DA is finally able to mount a case, but at the crucial courtroom moment he may have to pull out due to lack of evidence -- a lack engineered by crooked (stevedores) boss , who has several local politicians in his pocket. A last-minute dockside battle enables the DA to bring the racketeers to justice. The cast includes Richard Egan, Sam Levene, and Walter Matthau.

Richard Rodgers was a American composer best known for his collaborations with the American lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. He was born in New York City. Rodgers's first complete Broadway show was Garrick Gaieties (1925), with lyrics by Hart. Rodgers and Hart subsequently collaborated on many outstanding musical productions, including A Connecticut Yankee (1927) and Pal Joey (1940). Rodgers later collaborated with Hammerstein. Their first work, Oklahoma! (1943), won the 1944 Pulitzer Prize. Even more successful was South Pacific (1949; Pulitzer Prize, 1950). Their other collaborations include Carousel (1945), The King and I (1951), and The Sound of Music (1959).